What do you think?
Rate this book
The English Teacher
Fifteen years ago Vida Avery arrived alone and pregnant at elite Fayer Academy. She has since become a fixture and one of the best English teachers Fayer has ever had. Living on campus, on an island off the New England coast, Vida has cocooned herself and her son, Peter, from the outside world and from an inside secret. For years she has lived largely through the books she teaches, but when she accepts the impulsive marriage proposal of ardent widower Tom Belou, the prescribed life Vida has constructed is swiftly dismantled. Peter, however, welcomes the changes. Excited to move off campus, eager to have siblings at last, Peter anticipates a regular life with a “normal” family. But the Belou children are still grieving, and the memory of their recently dead mother exerts a powerful hold on the house. As Vida begins teaching her signature book, Tess of the d’Urbervilles , a nineteenth-century tale of an ostracized woman and social injustice, its themes begin to echo eerily in her own life and Peter sees that the mother he perceived as indomitable is collapsing and it is up to him to help.
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2005
608 people are currently reading
4875 people want to read
About the author
Lily King
14 books6,432 followersLily King grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.A. in English Literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She has taught English and Creative Writing at several universities and high schools in this country and abroad. Lily's new novel, Euphoria, was released in June 2014. It has drawn significant acclaim so far, being named an Amazon Book of the Month, on the Indie Next List, and hitting numerous summer reading lists from The Boston Globe to O Magazine and USA Today. Reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review, Emily Eakin called Euphoria, “a taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace.”
Lily’s first novel, The Pleasing Hour (1999) won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a New York Times Notable Book and an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her second, The English Teacher, was a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and the winner of the Maine Fiction Award. Her third novel, Father of the Rain (2010), was a New York Times Editors Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Novel of the Year and winner of both the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Maine Fiction Award.
Lily is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Whiting Writer's Award. Her short fiction has appeared in literary magazines including Ploughshares and Glimmer Train, as well as in several anthologies.
Lily’s first novel, The Pleasing Hour (1999) won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a New York Times Notable Book and an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her second, The English Teacher, was a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and the winner of the Maine Fiction Award. Her third novel, Father of the Rain (2010), was a New York Times Editors Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Novel of the Year and winner of both the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Maine Fiction Award.
Lily is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Whiting Writer's Award. Her short fiction has appeared in literary magazines including Ploughshares and Glimmer Train, as well as in several anthologies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 530 reviews
August 24, 2024
The English Teacher is the third Lily King book I have thus far read. I liked both Writers & Lovers and Euphoria, though they both made me grumpy at different times; I feel very much that King is a good writer, but in my view she makes mistakes, big enough things that take me periodically out of my experience of reading the stories. Euphoria I liked almost all of the way through--tapping into the electricity that working together and talking passionately together about that work can generate--until the rushed and improbable ending; in The English Teacher I was annoyed most of the time with almost everyone in the book, and kept saying aloud my questions about it: How did this woman ever get a teaching award? Why did she marry this guy? Why did he marry her?!
But I hung in there, changed my mind as I began to realize what the book was really about, and I also think that finally she sticks the landing (the ending, I mean) better than in Euphoria and I liked it better overall than either of the other two books.
I read this in part because I am a decades-long English teacher, and have this vague idea to read all the novels out there with this same title and write this long essay about what they all seem to say about my profession. I probably won’t do that, but that is one reason I decided to read it. The book that English teacher Vida Avery is teaching in this seemingly posh private school is Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a book I’d read in the past year or so, so I was curious about it figures in (it does, a lot, though you don’t fully know how much until the very end).
Vida has won the coveted school teaching award several times, though very little indicates why, as we only see her at this point strike out at her students who challenge her reading of Tess (she tells them to stop talking about the key sexual “incident” that happens early on in Tess, says that it is basically Tess’s fault, what has happened to her, which made me incredulous that anyone thought she was a great teacher). She lives inside texts and they are more real to her than any of the relationships she has in her life. Ironically, she also says she detests the notion of making personal connections to literature in the way that some of her students do, though it is increasingly clear that this is exactly what she needs to do. Close reading of texts alone is not enough to save Vida from her trauma. She needs to create a different, more intimate relationship with Tess to understand what Hardy is really telling her. She needs to close read her life.
I like it that the book explores the sexual behavior of the teenagers in the blended family and of Vida and her new husband, whose partnership does not seem quite credible to me (at first, but in the end makes a bit more sense). The mysteries and complexities of desire is one thing King explores well in all her books. Why does she marry him, I/you ask, most of the way? It is from the first not going well sexually, emotionally, the blended family thing is not working at all, how could such a basically nice guy marry this sour woman? She’s so closed in, she doesn’t even seem to like him!
But (and here is the fundamental spoiler): Vida, even though we see a lot of the story from her perspective, is in trauma, something we only gradually begin to realize. Of course Vida doesn’t tell us, she has cut herself off from her emotions, she escapes into booze. And for a long time she has failed to look at her own life, since the traumatic event that took place seventeen years ago, though the marriage to Tom has now forced the crisis to take place. She needs to deal with this, and tell her own story to someone and not just talk about the stories in books.
We don’t like her because she is not reaching out to us as a person, as a narrator. And what do we often do with unlikeable characters? We dnf their stories! We sort of blame them or their authors for being less than we want them to be. Though not Tom, her new husband, who sees she is hurting, and knows from personal experience that the drinking points to a deeper problem. And not Peter, who loves her but doesn’t know the story. How can they truly help her if they don’t know the story?!
Finally, this emerges as a fierce mother-son story; we like Peter more than anyone in this work, which makes it a kind of coming-of-age story as we also see events from his perspective. I like the dual points of view on their worlds. Both of them are so lost for much of the story, but there is some light ahead, let me just say that much in case that helps you decide whether to read it or not. You just have to hang in there!
This book I liked quite a bit finally. It reminded of Ordinary People by Judith Guest a bit in that it focuses on a mother-son’s relationship in the presence of almost unbearable trauma. I also very much like the work King does with Tess in this book. I recommend all three of these books, for sure, for explorations of trauma. All are about the relationship between trauma and literature. And passionate engagement with literature and life.
But I hung in there, changed my mind as I began to realize what the book was really about, and I also think that finally she sticks the landing (the ending, I mean) better than in Euphoria and I liked it better overall than either of the other two books.
I read this in part because I am a decades-long English teacher, and have this vague idea to read all the novels out there with this same title and write this long essay about what they all seem to say about my profession. I probably won’t do that, but that is one reason I decided to read it. The book that English teacher Vida Avery is teaching in this seemingly posh private school is Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a book I’d read in the past year or so, so I was curious about it figures in (it does, a lot, though you don’t fully know how much until the very end).
Vida has won the coveted school teaching award several times, though very little indicates why, as we only see her at this point strike out at her students who challenge her reading of Tess (she tells them to stop talking about the key sexual “incident” that happens early on in Tess, says that it is basically Tess’s fault, what has happened to her, which made me incredulous that anyone thought she was a great teacher). She lives inside texts and they are more real to her than any of the relationships she has in her life. Ironically, she also says she detests the notion of making personal connections to literature in the way that some of her students do, though it is increasingly clear that this is exactly what she needs to do. Close reading of texts alone is not enough to save Vida from her trauma. She needs to create a different, more intimate relationship with Tess to understand what Hardy is really telling her. She needs to close read her life.
I like it that the book explores the sexual behavior of the teenagers in the blended family and of Vida and her new husband, whose partnership does not seem quite credible to me (at first, but in the end makes a bit more sense). The mysteries and complexities of desire is one thing King explores well in all her books. Why does she marry him, I/you ask, most of the way? It is from the first not going well sexually, emotionally, the blended family thing is not working at all, how could such a basically nice guy marry this sour woman? She’s so closed in, she doesn’t even seem to like him!
But (and here is the fundamental spoiler): Vida, even though we see a lot of the story from her perspective, is in trauma, something we only gradually begin to realize. Of course Vida doesn’t tell us, she has cut herself off from her emotions, she escapes into booze. And for a long time she has failed to look at her own life, since the traumatic event that took place seventeen years ago, though the marriage to Tom has now forced the crisis to take place. She needs to deal with this, and tell her own story to someone and not just talk about the stories in books.
We don’t like her because she is not reaching out to us as a person, as a narrator. And what do we often do with unlikeable characters? We dnf their stories! We sort of blame them or their authors for being less than we want them to be. Though not Tom, her new husband, who sees she is hurting, and knows from personal experience that the drinking points to a deeper problem. And not Peter, who loves her but doesn’t know the story. How can they truly help her if they don’t know the story?!
Finally, this emerges as a fierce mother-son story; we like Peter more than anyone in this work, which makes it a kind of coming-of-age story as we also see events from his perspective. I like the dual points of view on their worlds. Both of them are so lost for much of the story, but there is some light ahead, let me just say that much in case that helps you decide whether to read it or not. You just have to hang in there!
This book I liked quite a bit finally. It reminded of Ordinary People by Judith Guest a bit in that it focuses on a mother-son’s relationship in the presence of almost unbearable trauma. I also very much like the work King does with Tess in this book. I recommend all three of these books, for sure, for explorations of trauma. All are about the relationship between trauma and literature. And passionate engagement with literature and life.
January 20, 2023
I fell in love with Lily King’s prose in Writer’s and Lovers. My admiration only grew after reading Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her written word and character development, especially broken or hurting characters, is impressive. I plan on reading all of her books and have read The English Teacher for book club.
The author does a masterful job of pacing and revealing. There were several events that I suspected and others that caught me by surprise. I love and appreciate that in a book. I also love books that involves books. So many books were referenced, motivating me to read them all. The parallels to the the books and Vida’s life are powerful.
On the surface, it appears to be the story of two families coming together to form a blended family. Every person in the family is navigating some form of trauma, grief, or loss. Another aspect of the story is the children trying to navigate their teenage years and figuring out how to be step siblings.
At first, I didn’t understand the importance of the setting/time and the inclusion of the Iran hostage crisis, but by the end it was obviously purposeful and a powerful parallel to the main story.
I loved that one setting was Vida’s grandfather’s house converted into a private school. A shared experience between Stuart and his mother foreshadows or parallels a later experience that Peter shares with his mother. The scene in the diner was one of my favorites, and packed an emotional punch.
A great quote that captures the essence of the book is: “Stop it. Stop finishing my sentences. Stop looking at me with that smirk like you can see all around me, like I’m a character for you to analyze. You don’t have to be a goddamn English teacher all the time. Just be yourself.”
The author does a masterful job of pacing and revealing. There were several events that I suspected and others that caught me by surprise. I love and appreciate that in a book. I also love books that involves books. So many books were referenced, motivating me to read them all. The parallels to the the books and Vida’s life are powerful.
On the surface, it appears to be the story of two families coming together to form a blended family. Every person in the family is navigating some form of trauma, grief, or loss. Another aspect of the story is the children trying to navigate their teenage years and figuring out how to be step siblings.
At first, I didn’t understand the importance of the setting/time and the inclusion of the Iran hostage crisis, but by the end it was obviously purposeful and a powerful parallel to the main story.
I loved that one setting was Vida’s grandfather’s house converted into a private school. A shared experience between Stuart and his mother foreshadows or parallels a later experience that Peter shares with his mother. The scene in the diner was one of my favorites, and packed an emotional punch.
A great quote that captures the essence of the book is: “Stop it. Stop finishing my sentences. Stop looking at me with that smirk like you can see all around me, like I’m a character for you to analyze. You don’t have to be a goddamn English teacher all the time. Just be yourself.”
March 27, 2022
Click here to hear my thoughts on Lily King, this book, and all her other books over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
Lily King's second novel follows a high school English Teacher with trauma in her past and repressed rage in her present, waiting to explode. She's raising her teenage son on her own when the man she's been casually dating - a sweet widower named Tom - proposes. The fact that Vida doesn't speak one word aloud during this proposal gives the sense that this is something that's happening to her, rather than a happy event that she welcomes.
It's no coincidence then, that the events of this book span the length of the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981); Vida feels like a prisoner in this marriage and as she struggles to adjust, she escapes into the world of books, like she's always done. We as readers start to see the parallels between her life and the main character of the book she's teaching to her class, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess is a character for whom Vida has surprisingly little sympathy until we begin to understand that our English teacher is actually mad at the vulnerability of young women, leaving them susceptible to awful things, like the event that goes unspoken until the very late pages of this book.
With a main character so (understandably) angry and prickly through most of the book, this isn't the easiest reading. Nor is it easy finding out what's been torturing Vida all these years. But like all Lily King books, there's so much heart in here. So much depth. So much left unsaid. It's not her strongest - those were yet to come (looking at you, Euphoria). But now that I've read her entire backlist, it's clear Lily King got better with every book. And if that keeps being true? Hoo boy. We're in for a doozy with her next one.
Lily King's second novel follows a high school English Teacher with trauma in her past and repressed rage in her present, waiting to explode. She's raising her teenage son on her own when the man she's been casually dating - a sweet widower named Tom - proposes. The fact that Vida doesn't speak one word aloud during this proposal gives the sense that this is something that's happening to her, rather than a happy event that she welcomes.
It's no coincidence then, that the events of this book span the length of the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981); Vida feels like a prisoner in this marriage and as she struggles to adjust, she escapes into the world of books, like she's always done. We as readers start to see the parallels between her life and the main character of the book she's teaching to her class, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess is a character for whom Vida has surprisingly little sympathy until we begin to understand that our English teacher is actually mad at the vulnerability of young women, leaving them susceptible to awful things, like the event that goes unspoken until the very late pages of this book.
With a main character so (understandably) angry and prickly through most of the book, this isn't the easiest reading. Nor is it easy finding out what's been torturing Vida all these years. But like all Lily King books, there's so much heart in here. So much depth. So much left unsaid. It's not her strongest - those were yet to come (looking at you, Euphoria). But now that I've read her entire backlist, it's clear Lily King got better with every book. And if that keeps being true? Hoo boy. We're in for a doozy with her next one.
Want to read
September 23, 2023getting an exciting book for a great deal...it gives me goosebumps
January 31, 2020
The English Teacher is a contemporary novel about the making of family. In the world of today many families are broken up; the splitting of families is a common occurrence. Causes may vary, as they do in this novel—by choice, by the decision of parents to divorce, and by death. The book focuses on the healing process that is involved when a new family is formed. The process is not easy. Both the parents and step-siblings must readjust. The past is not merely to be discarded and replaced by something new. No, the past must be faced up to and worked though. This will not be easy for those involved.
The step-siblings in the tale are in their teens. In this sense the book is also a coming-of-age novel. The conversations between the kids are well drawn.
Yeah, I like the book, although I tend to shy away from stories about dysfunctional families. Tell me, what families aren’t dysfunctional at some point in time?! The book handles well the underlying problems that existed in the two families. The loss of a good parent can be as difficult as parents crushed by what they have been forced to go through earlier in their lives. What happens is believable.
The mother in the newly formed family is a devoted English teacher. A question that will arise, as you read, is why she so ardently enforces strict discipline. It is interesting to observe the relationships that exist among the school’s teachers. The talk about authors and books is fun too. She is teaching the kids in her class Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. What is said tempts one to read/reread the book. Good teachers, and she is one of those really good ones, are special. You think back on those few teachers who stand out in your own life. I like the school setting; it adds a further dimension.
There is a dog in the story. He is an important element too.
Christina Moore narrates the audiobook. She reads at a good pace and you can hear who is speaking. It is a good narration, so I have given it three stars. The narration does not demand a whole lot in that different accents are not required.
I like the book but am not all excited about it. There is no fault with it; it’s just not really my thing.
***********************
*Euphoria 5 stars
*The English Teacher 3 stars
*Father of the Rain TBR
The step-siblings in the tale are in their teens. In this sense the book is also a coming-of-age novel. The conversations between the kids are well drawn.
Yeah, I like the book, although I tend to shy away from stories about dysfunctional families. Tell me, what families aren’t dysfunctional at some point in time?! The book handles well the underlying problems that existed in the two families. The loss of a good parent can be as difficult as parents crushed by what they have been forced to go through earlier in their lives. What happens is believable.
The mother in the newly formed family is a devoted English teacher. A question that will arise, as you read, is why she so ardently enforces strict discipline. It is interesting to observe the relationships that exist among the school’s teachers. The talk about authors and books is fun too. She is teaching the kids in her class Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. What is said tempts one to read/reread the book. Good teachers, and she is one of those really good ones, are special. You think back on those few teachers who stand out in your own life. I like the school setting; it adds a further dimension.
There is a dog in the story. He is an important element too.
Christina Moore narrates the audiobook. She reads at a good pace and you can hear who is speaking. It is a good narration, so I have given it three stars. The narration does not demand a whole lot in that different accents are not required.
I like the book but am not all excited about it. There is no fault with it; it’s just not really my thing.
***********************
*Euphoria 5 stars
*The English Teacher 3 stars
*Father of the Rain TBR
December 11, 2013
For a former English teacher, picking up a novel called The English Teacher required a leap of faith. There's the risk of running into that egomaniac so widely adored in stories about English teachers, a subgenre that reached its low point with Robin Williams's mawkish performance in "Dead Poets Society." Michelle Pfeiffer was hotter in "Dangerous Minds," but she followed essentially the same lesson plan, with the same test results: one student dead and a nation inspired.
For the millions of responsible teachers more interested in explaining literature than saving souls, such portrayals are an embarrassment to the class. And so it was a relief to find that the heroine in Lily King's new novel makes a fascinating counterpoint to these celebrated emotional leeches. Vida Avery is the best teacher at Fayer Academy, a wealthy prep school on an island off the coast of New England. During her 15-year career, Vida has been offered every honor and position such a school can bestow on its finest, but she's resisted these allurements. She remains cloistered in an old attic classroom, a position that simultaneously emphasizes her modesty and her specialness.
Vida's legendary classes on English and American literature lead students through discussions of themes, characters, settings and styles. She tolerates no distractions, tangents or sloppy expressions in speech or prose. When her sophomores try to draw her off track with personal questions, she immediately brings them back to a novel by Thomas Hardy: "Let's talk about Tess. She's far more interesting." Rather than coyly encouraging their intimacies, she feels "impatient with them for stepping behind the curtain of her private life." She doesn't want them to love her; she wants them to love literature.
But we quickly learn that Vida's pedagogical discipline stems from her unhealthy avoidance of real life. "She wasn't interested in the present," King writes. "Moments in novels were unforgettable, while in real life the details slipped quickly away." Something has happened, we're led to believe -- something ghastly and unthinkable that caused Vida to abandon her past and remake herself 15 years ago when she appeared on the steps of Fayer Academy with a baby. Since then, she's lived on the island campus, raised her son with hawk-like attention, gained a reputation for being a strict but brilliant teacher and avoided all emotional entanglements.
Which makes her sudden marriage to a recent widower, Tom Belou, a complete shock to everyone -- including herself. " What had she done? " she keeps asking herself. "She wished she'd never said she loved him. She was just being polite, returning the compliment late one evening." But now here she is, shattering the safe little life she's managed to construct for herself and her son and throwing them both into a new house, with new children (Tom's three) still grieving for their dead mother. From the wedding night on, Vida is a mess: frigid in the bedroom, nervous in the kitchen, shrill at the table. She has no idea what to do with these new stepchildren, how Tom can love her, or why she married him.
And neither do we. As in her debut novel, The Pleasing Hour , King has taken the old vaudeville advice to heart: "Leave 'em wanting more." She may, in fact, be too devoted to that maxim. The English Teacher suffers from a kind of literary anorexia; there's not enough meat on these characters or enough connective tissue on the bones of this plot. Though we eventually learn what trauma forced Vida to reinvent herself all those years ago (not too hard to guess), we never get answers to the more important questions raised by these characters' relationships in the present. (Why does she get married? Why does he stay with her?)
The wedding takes place in 1979, on the same day the U.S. embassy staff is taken hostage in Iran, which serves as a provocative but ultimately irrelevant metaphor for Vida's sense of entrapment. More promising are the frequent references to Tess of the d'Urbervilles , which Vida begins teaching the Monday after her wedding. But here, too, the allusions are more illusory than illuminating, and even readers who find Hardy unbearable would have to admit that he never leaves us feeling uninformed.
King is at her best with her portrayal of the teenage children forced together by their parents' inexplicable marriage. Vida's son is a particularly endearing character: "He would begin his life as a regular person," he thinks, "who ate his meals not in a cafeteria but in a kitchen." At the wedding reception, he can barely contain his excitement: "Tonight they'd go home to a regular house on a regular street, husband and wife in the master bedroom and four kids sprinkled in rooms down a hallway." In scenes that are funny, touching and sad, that naive hope is severely tested but not entirely crushed by the awkward integration with his new siblings, who view him and his mother as interlopers.
Unfortunately, the marriage at the center of the novel never attains the emotional substance of this side story involving the stepchildren. King is a wonderfully engaging writer who creates characters and situations we can't resist, but I kept raising my hand with questions about The English Teacher -- oh please, over here! -- until the bell rang and it was over.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
For the millions of responsible teachers more interested in explaining literature than saving souls, such portrayals are an embarrassment to the class. And so it was a relief to find that the heroine in Lily King's new novel makes a fascinating counterpoint to these celebrated emotional leeches. Vida Avery is the best teacher at Fayer Academy, a wealthy prep school on an island off the coast of New England. During her 15-year career, Vida has been offered every honor and position such a school can bestow on its finest, but she's resisted these allurements. She remains cloistered in an old attic classroom, a position that simultaneously emphasizes her modesty and her specialness.
Vida's legendary classes on English and American literature lead students through discussions of themes, characters, settings and styles. She tolerates no distractions, tangents or sloppy expressions in speech or prose. When her sophomores try to draw her off track with personal questions, she immediately brings them back to a novel by Thomas Hardy: "Let's talk about Tess. She's far more interesting." Rather than coyly encouraging their intimacies, she feels "impatient with them for stepping behind the curtain of her private life." She doesn't want them to love her; she wants them to love literature.
But we quickly learn that Vida's pedagogical discipline stems from her unhealthy avoidance of real life. "She wasn't interested in the present," King writes. "Moments in novels were unforgettable, while in real life the details slipped quickly away." Something has happened, we're led to believe -- something ghastly and unthinkable that caused Vida to abandon her past and remake herself 15 years ago when she appeared on the steps of Fayer Academy with a baby. Since then, she's lived on the island campus, raised her son with hawk-like attention, gained a reputation for being a strict but brilliant teacher and avoided all emotional entanglements.
Which makes her sudden marriage to a recent widower, Tom Belou, a complete shock to everyone -- including herself. " What had she done? " she keeps asking herself. "She wished she'd never said she loved him. She was just being polite, returning the compliment late one evening." But now here she is, shattering the safe little life she's managed to construct for herself and her son and throwing them both into a new house, with new children (Tom's three) still grieving for their dead mother. From the wedding night on, Vida is a mess: frigid in the bedroom, nervous in the kitchen, shrill at the table. She has no idea what to do with these new stepchildren, how Tom can love her, or why she married him.
And neither do we. As in her debut novel, The Pleasing Hour , King has taken the old vaudeville advice to heart: "Leave 'em wanting more." She may, in fact, be too devoted to that maxim. The English Teacher suffers from a kind of literary anorexia; there's not enough meat on these characters or enough connective tissue on the bones of this plot. Though we eventually learn what trauma forced Vida to reinvent herself all those years ago (not too hard to guess), we never get answers to the more important questions raised by these characters' relationships in the present. (Why does she get married? Why does he stay with her?)
The wedding takes place in 1979, on the same day the U.S. embassy staff is taken hostage in Iran, which serves as a provocative but ultimately irrelevant metaphor for Vida's sense of entrapment. More promising are the frequent references to Tess of the d'Urbervilles , which Vida begins teaching the Monday after her wedding. But here, too, the allusions are more illusory than illuminating, and even readers who find Hardy unbearable would have to admit that he never leaves us feeling uninformed.
King is at her best with her portrayal of the teenage children forced together by their parents' inexplicable marriage. Vida's son is a particularly endearing character: "He would begin his life as a regular person," he thinks, "who ate his meals not in a cafeteria but in a kitchen." At the wedding reception, he can barely contain his excitement: "Tonight they'd go home to a regular house on a regular street, husband and wife in the master bedroom and four kids sprinkled in rooms down a hallway." In scenes that are funny, touching and sad, that naive hope is severely tested but not entirely crushed by the awkward integration with his new siblings, who view him and his mother as interlopers.
Unfortunately, the marriage at the center of the novel never attains the emotional substance of this side story involving the stepchildren. King is a wonderfully engaging writer who creates characters and situations we can't resist, but I kept raising my hand with questions about The English Teacher -- oh please, over here! -- until the bell rang and it was over.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
September 5, 2015
3.5 ★
I enjoyed this one. A mother and her teenage son attempt living a blended family life with her new husband and his children. But Vida has been keeping a closely guarded secret and suffering from PTSD as a result. Her fragile grasp on living a normal life is unraveling and her control about to snap. Kept my interest as told from both her and son Peter’s POVs. An engaging, quick read. Any fan of Tess of the D’Urbervilles will appreciate the references and parallels with the two story lines.
I enjoyed this one. A mother and her teenage son attempt living a blended family life with her new husband and his children. But Vida has been keeping a closely guarded secret and suffering from PTSD as a result. Her fragile grasp on living a normal life is unraveling and her control about to snap. Kept my interest as told from both her and son Peter’s POVs. An engaging, quick read. Any fan of Tess of the D’Urbervilles will appreciate the references and parallels with the two story lines.
October 31, 2015
Although this novel was published only ten years ago, it feels like something from much earlier decade. And it's not that it's set in 1979-1980, opening the day fifty-two Americans were taken hostage at the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I don't read many stories like this, written quite this way, anymore. Perhaps Robin Black's 2014 Life Drawing or Ian McEwan's most recent The Children Act—are similar. Each a deep but brief character study, an exposition of marriage, an examination of how that which doesn't kill us wounds and weakens us as we age. What The English Teacher reminded me of was Judith Guest's Ordinary People. A tragedy creating distance between a mother—who copes with bourbon—and a son—who retreats from the world; a kind and bewildered father trying to be the bridge between the two. The same golden New England setting. A somber tone to the narrative; everyone living internal, remote lives. It reminded me a bit, too, of J.D. Salinger, with precocious teenagers and a stream of tragedy trickling underneath.
Although there is considerable tension as we anticipate the unraveling of Vida Avery, single mother to Peter and a highly respected English teacher at an insular New England prep school, there is little mystery to the storm brewing inside her. Vida is teaching Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles and how she responds to Tess's encounter in the forest with Alec D'Uberville is enough to warn us of the rattling skeletons pressing against her closet door.
Why Vida, after remaining single her entire adult life, chooses to marry a widower she hardly knows and join her family of two with his three children is the true mystery and one that is never entirely resolved. But the sense of doom darkens the marriage as early as the wedding reception and we witness Vida's quiet horror with claustrophobic frustration. Perhaps this is the author's point--we don't always know why we do the things we do, but we are left with the consequences.
This is a story that moves quietly through the minds of Vida and her son Peter as they circle around each other, growing apart, building a wall of resentment and misunderstanding. Perhaps that's why this novel moves with the rhythm of a classic. It is quiet and reflective, free from clever meta-devices. I struggled to connect with the soft, tweedy patience of her new husband, Tom, and with Vida's curdled rage that makes her insufferable for most of the book, but Lily King's beautifully structured story and fine, fine writing made this impossible to set aside.
Three and a half stars edging toward four.
Although there is considerable tension as we anticipate the unraveling of Vida Avery, single mother to Peter and a highly respected English teacher at an insular New England prep school, there is little mystery to the storm brewing inside her. Vida is teaching Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles and how she responds to Tess's encounter in the forest with Alec D'Uberville is enough to warn us of the rattling skeletons pressing against her closet door.
Why Vida, after remaining single her entire adult life, chooses to marry a widower she hardly knows and join her family of two with his three children is the true mystery and one that is never entirely resolved. But the sense of doom darkens the marriage as early as the wedding reception and we witness Vida's quiet horror with claustrophobic frustration. Perhaps this is the author's point--we don't always know why we do the things we do, but we are left with the consequences.
This is a story that moves quietly through the minds of Vida and her son Peter as they circle around each other, growing apart, building a wall of resentment and misunderstanding. Perhaps that's why this novel moves with the rhythm of a classic. It is quiet and reflective, free from clever meta-devices. I struggled to connect with the soft, tweedy patience of her new husband, Tom, and with Vida's curdled rage that makes her insufferable for most of the book, but Lily King's beautifully structured story and fine, fine writing made this impossible to set aside.
Three and a half stars edging toward four.
May 14, 2010
I didn't really like this book.
Even though at the end of the book we learn more about Vida's tragedy, I still had a hard time feeling empathy for her. I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop drinking and stop feeling sorry for herself. Who accepts a marriage proposal on the spur of the moment? Why would you do that without seeming to take into account how that may impact your son? Ugh. Give up the bottle and wake up, woman.
Even though at the end of the book we learn more about Vida's tragedy, I still had a hard time feeling empathy for her. I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop drinking and stop feeling sorry for herself. Who accepts a marriage proposal on the spur of the moment? Why would you do that without seeming to take into account how that may impact your son? Ugh. Give up the bottle and wake up, woman.
September 9, 2010
I love Lily King. I am so sorry that there is only one more book by her to read. This novel is a portrait of a traumatized woman, and English teacher and mother, who impulsively reframes her life and can't recognize her own self in it. What I like about King's novels is that things happen in them; this is not a novel about ennui but about pain and love and fear. And Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I don't know that this is a book for teenagers. But this is one of my favorite books ever.
October 9, 2023
Lily King has become a favourite author of mine, after reading Writers and Lovers, Euphoria and her short story collection, Five Tuesdays in Winter. I'm planning to make my way through her backlist and I started with this one.
The English Teacher was first published in 2005 but reads as older, possibly because it is set in 1980/1981 around the time of the Iranian hostage crisis which forms a backdrop to the novel but doesn't play a significant part in the story in any way, but possibly also because Lily King's writing has a timeless style.
Vida Avery is a respected English teacher at an elite New England private school Fayer Academy, and a single mother to teenage son Peter. Vida lives a solitary life until she meets widower and father of three Tom, whose marriage proposal she accepts. What happens next is the slow-moving tale of a deeply troubled woman who is seemingly unable to build intimacy or form close relationships with those around her. It's a domestic drama with a deep underlying tension throughout and wonderful character work.
I found myself really frustrated with Vida for a lot of the novel and not liking her very much, but the way in which the story unspools and reaches its climax is something of a gut punch. The book reads as a modern American classic and if you're a fan of Donna Tartt, Curtis Sittenfeld and campus/academic novels like Stoner or The Secret History, I'd recommend it. If you've read Thomas Hardy's classic Tess of the D'Urbervilles, you'll gain yet more from reading it.
The English Teacher was first published in 2005 but reads as older, possibly because it is set in 1980/1981 around the time of the Iranian hostage crisis which forms a backdrop to the novel but doesn't play a significant part in the story in any way, but possibly also because Lily King's writing has a timeless style.
Vida Avery is a respected English teacher at an elite New England private school Fayer Academy, and a single mother to teenage son Peter. Vida lives a solitary life until she meets widower and father of three Tom, whose marriage proposal she accepts. What happens next is the slow-moving tale of a deeply troubled woman who is seemingly unable to build intimacy or form close relationships with those around her. It's a domestic drama with a deep underlying tension throughout and wonderful character work.
I found myself really frustrated with Vida for a lot of the novel and not liking her very much, but the way in which the story unspools and reaches its climax is something of a gut punch. The book reads as a modern American classic and if you're a fan of Donna Tartt, Curtis Sittenfeld and campus/academic novels like Stoner or The Secret History, I'd recommend it. If you've read Thomas Hardy's classic Tess of the D'Urbervilles, you'll gain yet more from reading it.
June 1, 2020
I didn't see the point of this story, the protagonist is an obnoxious character, there are strong reasons for her cynical, stand offish attitude, why she seems to love her dog more than her child, yet I didn't like her and couldn't feel any sympathy towards her character, when I should have.
For a person like her to marry someone without much thought is also illogical, but because she did the story took shape, not a very convincing one to me at least. The writer is good and whatever I may think, I still find her very readable and her style is never boring, but this book needed a bit more thought.
For a person like her to marry someone without much thought is also illogical, but because she did the story took shape, not a very convincing one to me at least. The writer is good and whatever I may think, I still find her very readable and her style is never boring, but this book needed a bit more thought.
February 9, 2015
This was a quick read but very well written. The author's writing is done with such ease and eloquence you can visualize everything to a tee. I love the references to other books and the overlapping themes of this book. The characters are well done, to the point of me disliking Vida so much it made me wanna shake her. It makes me want to read the other books to more fully understand how the compliment this one so well. I would read another one of her books.
September 12, 2025
Vida Avery has a secret. A horrifying, life-altering secret that she has never told anyone. Now it's 1979--15 years later.
Fiercely independent Vida is living a satisfying, albeit not particularly happy, life at Fayer Academy, a posh prep school nestled on a secluded island off the coast of New England. She is an English teacher in the upper school so she is able to immerse herself in novels—so much so that the characters on the pages are more real to her than her colleagues and friends. Vida, who never married, has a teenage son, Peter. She loves him, but she has recurring nightmares about hurting or even killing him. Now Vida has impulsively accepted widower Tom Belou's proposal of marriage, and she and Peter move in with patient, understanding, and wonderful Tom and his three children. Simon is 18 and has dropped out of life since his mother's death, embracing weird philosophies while entertaining girls in his room at night. Fran is in 11th grade and vacillates between being snippy and mean and kind and compassionate. Little Caleb is a sweetheart. Peter is ecstatic about being part of a real family, even as he begins failing most of his classes at Fayer and his classmates seemingly shun him. Meanwhile, complex and wounded Vida is terrified of sex, so the newlyweds are having great difficulty in bed.
Brilliantly written by Lily King, the novel reflects the plot of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles," as Vida, who teaches the book annually to her 10th graders, realizes that Tess's life is mirroring her own. Vida's mental state is precarious at best as she realizes her marriage was a huge mistake. Meanwhile, Tom knows that Vida isn't telling him something and it's creating a huge wedge in their relationship.
We readers are eventually apprised of Vida's lifechanging secret long before anyone else finds out (although it's fairly easy to figure it out if you're paying attention), making her psychological downfall all the more harrowing.
This is a profound and moving tale that is emotionally charged and at times deeply unsettling as all the characters must deal with their own kind of grief if they want to move forward with their lives.
Note: While it's not necessary to read "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" before reading "The English Teacher," your experience will be much richer if you do—or at least Google the plot of "Tess."
Fiercely independent Vida is living a satisfying, albeit not particularly happy, life at Fayer Academy, a posh prep school nestled on a secluded island off the coast of New England. She is an English teacher in the upper school so she is able to immerse herself in novels—so much so that the characters on the pages are more real to her than her colleagues and friends. Vida, who never married, has a teenage son, Peter. She loves him, but she has recurring nightmares about hurting or even killing him. Now Vida has impulsively accepted widower Tom Belou's proposal of marriage, and she and Peter move in with patient, understanding, and wonderful Tom and his three children. Simon is 18 and has dropped out of life since his mother's death, embracing weird philosophies while entertaining girls in his room at night. Fran is in 11th grade and vacillates between being snippy and mean and kind and compassionate. Little Caleb is a sweetheart. Peter is ecstatic about being part of a real family, even as he begins failing most of his classes at Fayer and his classmates seemingly shun him. Meanwhile, complex and wounded Vida is terrified of sex, so the newlyweds are having great difficulty in bed.
Brilliantly written by Lily King, the novel reflects the plot of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles," as Vida, who teaches the book annually to her 10th graders, realizes that Tess's life is mirroring her own. Vida's mental state is precarious at best as she realizes her marriage was a huge mistake. Meanwhile, Tom knows that Vida isn't telling him something and it's creating a huge wedge in their relationship.
We readers are eventually apprised of Vida's lifechanging secret long before anyone else finds out (although it's fairly easy to figure it out if you're paying attention), making her psychological downfall all the more harrowing.
This is a profound and moving tale that is emotionally charged and at times deeply unsettling as all the characters must deal with their own kind of grief if they want to move forward with their lives.
Note: While it's not necessary to read "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" before reading "The English Teacher," your experience will be much richer if you do—or at least Google the plot of "Tess."
April 4, 2013
Surprisingly readable but increasingly implausible story of a woman who flees her Texas home when she becomes pregnant, revealing neither the pregnancy, nor, later, the identity of the father of the baby to anyone, not even her son. She removes herself to an island off the coast of New England where her family once owned a mansion, now converted to a school; she becomes a respected English teacher. Unlikable title character. Inexplicable plot developments, such as marrying a newly-widowed man whom she neither loves nor is attracted to, and becoming a stepmother to his 3 children, still grieving the loss of their beloved mother. Predictable disaster ensues. But all is made well by moving the whole family to California, where the palm trees grow - ! I loved the Pleasing Hour, but this one is very disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2022
“Was it possible in any relationship to not disappoint, to do anything more than only briefly rekindle the initial fatal illusion?”
thoughtful and poignant. lily king is definitely shaping up to be one of my favorite currently working authors from the books i've read by her thus far, and i can't wait to get my hands on more of her back catalogue. king writes about people and their relationships with such intellect and insight, and i really enjoyed getting lost inside these characters' heads. in particular, she portrays familial relationships quite strongly, especially the relationship between our protagonist vida and her teenage son peter, and how these relationships can be influenced by trauma. overall, i liked this book quite a bit and i'm looking forward to reading more by king
thoughtful and poignant. lily king is definitely shaping up to be one of my favorite currently working authors from the books i've read by her thus far, and i can't wait to get my hands on more of her back catalogue. king writes about people and their relationships with such intellect and insight, and i really enjoyed getting lost inside these characters' heads. in particular, she portrays familial relationships quite strongly, especially the relationship between our protagonist vida and her teenage son peter, and how these relationships can be influenced by trauma. overall, i liked this book quite a bit and i'm looking forward to reading more by king
May 8, 2025
ohhhhh if only someday i can write half as well as lily king........
August 19, 2010
Some aspects of this book are wonderful, I think. The two main characters are very interesting. First of all, there's the mother who thinks she's in control of a life that she compartmentalizes to the point of neglecting her son and her own psychological health. She's out of touch with her feelings and needs, owing to a traumatic experience that remains undisclosed until the end (except for hints). Consequently, her actions sometimes result from unconscious impulses she's clueless about. King does a good job of balancing the woman's flawed consciousness with that of the son Peter, who has been stunted by his mother's lack of nurturing. Peter is a very likable character, and thus his affability balances his mother's sometimes monstrous, self-destructive behavior. A few other characters in the novel are engaging, and the parallel plot of the stepfather's children, whose mother has died suddenly, balances well with the story of Peter and the mother (I'm blanking out on her name). Yet King's plotting gets in the way of the character arcs.
April 3, 2017
I picked this up because I loved another of King's books, Euphoria; but this didn't feel as immediate, as well crafted as that one. I did like the ending, though, and that's saying something, since it's hard to get endings right.
October 2, 2020
While it is about much more important things, she describes working at a private school to a T. She is a wonderful writer.
June 9, 2024
3.75
Lily King's ability for character development is phenomenonal. I just found Vida incredibly unlikable as the book went on. I caught myself yelling aloud at her multiple times. Much like Lily's first book, I felt there were some loose ends that stayed unraveled. And Vida remained unlocked despite having insight to her inner thoughts. Her relationship with Tom was such a mystery. There was much about the start of their relationship that was hardly fleshed out and made their marriage a complete mystery. But I suspect this was the point. Vida couldn't let people in completely and maybe she couldn't do the same even as King created her. Having just read her first novel, I was happy King did not switch to multiple perspectives and stuck to just Vida and her son, Peter. She was able to flesh out the supporting characters without unnecessary details like in The Pleasing Hour.
But overall the story did bring up enough genuine emotion that I forgot I was reading and moments that made me cry. A few of the conversations/arguments felt very real and I was transported to the scenes fully. I think a second read would probably be needed knowing how the story evolved. A definite approvement from The Pleasing Hour but not as refined as her later works. Now I just need to read Euphoria!
Lily King's ability for character development is phenomenonal. I just found Vida incredibly unlikable as the book went on. I caught myself yelling aloud at her multiple times. Much like Lily's first book, I felt there were some loose ends that stayed unraveled. And Vida remained unlocked despite having insight to her inner thoughts. Her relationship with Tom was such a mystery. There was much about the start of their relationship that was hardly fleshed out and made their marriage a complete mystery. But I suspect this was the point. Vida couldn't let people in completely and maybe she couldn't do the same even as King created her. Having just read her first novel, I was happy King did not switch to multiple perspectives and stuck to just Vida and her son, Peter. She was able to flesh out the supporting characters without unnecessary details like in The Pleasing Hour.
But overall the story did bring up enough genuine emotion that I forgot I was reading and moments that made me cry. A few of the conversations/arguments felt very real and I was transported to the scenes fully. I think a second read would probably be needed knowing how the story evolved. A definite approvement from The Pleasing Hour but not as refined as her later works. Now I just need to read Euphoria!
August 6, 2025
I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two Lily King novels I've read, but that is definitely a high bar. It could be because here I had trouble relating to the specifics of the story: Vida's specific trauma, raising a teenage boy alone, and the relationship challenges within a blended family. But the writing was great, the characters and situations felt real, and I enjoyed all the references to English literature that Vida was constantly mentioning, trying to relate them to her own reactions to events.
This early novel, King's second, was good, but not as good as Writers and Lovers (2020) or, especially, Euphoria (2014), a book I absolutely adored.
This early novel, King's second, was good, but not as good as Writers and Lovers (2020) or, especially, Euphoria (2014), a book I absolutely adored.
January 5, 2022
This feels like 3.5 stars, but I rounded to 4 because I ❤️ Lily King. I struggled through the first half of the book because I didn’t understand Vida (main character). The second half got better— Vida started to make sense and I better understood her motivations. This is my fourth Lily King. Excited to read the new collection of short stories!
April 2, 2023
Головна героїня, Віда, так заплуталась, що вийшла заміж за батька трьох дітей. Найгірше Віда зробила своєму сину-підлітку, Пітеру і без того з дивною маман живеться нелегко.
Тож ця історія про:
а) нещасні батьки роблять нещасними своїх дітей
б) травма - це «свято», яке завжди з тобою
в) любов може спробувати подолати все, але не факт, що вийде
Важкувата історія зі світлим кінцем.
Тож ця історія про:
а) нещасні батьки роблять нещасними своїх дітей
б) травма - це «свято», яке завжди з тобою
в) любов може спробувати подолати все, але не факт, що вийде
Важкувата історія зі світлим кінцем.
December 20, 2020
Agonizing at times but carefully and brilliantly plotted, with an ending that is absolutely and completely earned. I’m glad I stuck with it, even though it is fairly bleak reading for these winter COVID days.
March 9, 2025
3.5 stars, only because it’s impossible not to compare this to King’s later novels which are even more beautifully written. While it is a compelling novel about family dysfunction, trauma, and adolescence, something was missing off for me— perhaps the abrupt change in pace of the plot.
October 9, 2021
“This is it and I am right here. This is what there is.”
July 16, 2024
Lily King is the best at endings and I love the way she writes so so much. tough to read at times but worth it. (tho tbh not sure this book fully is worth the read unless you’ve read Tess of the d’Urbervilles, which features super heavily throughout.)
July 23, 2024
3.5 stars - This was a good book, I just personally didn't love it.
July 27, 2025
This is the second Lily King book I’ve read and I’ve decided I’m going to read everything she’s written. Obsessed. Exactly the kind of writing that I like. Beautifully complex characters, a strong sense of setting, raw and honest depictions of pain and trauma but with an ultimately hopeful ending. You can feel the characters of Vida and Peter changing and growing as the novel progresses. Will be recommending to anyone who listens.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 530 reviews